[Al Arabiya Latest] A Casablanca court heavily fined three top Moroccan newspapers Monday for publishing critical articles on Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi.Freedom of the press landed the three local newspapers al-Jarida al-Aoula, al-ahdath al-Maghribia, and al-Massae in hot water after they published articles criticizing Kadhafi, prompting the Libyan leader to sue them for libel.
| Actually, it was non-freedom of the press that landed the three in trouble. And Morocco is one of the freer "Arab" countries. |
During the trial an array of defense lawyers argued that the premise upon which Gaddafi's claims were based was out of keeping with the Libyan constitution, as he is nowhere referred to as head of state, but simply as "guide."
Five of nine staff members from the three dailies were each fined 120,200 dirhams ($15,000).
Other journalists who came under fire were Ali Anouzla, director of al-Jarida al-Aoula, Mohamed Brini, director of al-Ahdat al-Maghribia and one of his journalists, Mokhtar Labzioui, and Rachid Nini, director of al-Massae and Youssef Meskine, a journalist from the same paper.